Robert Dabney

1820-1898. Young contemporary of J.H. Thornwell,* he is generally regarded as the second great theologian of the Southern Presbyterian Church. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1842, and in 1844 entered Union Seminary, was licensed to preach in 1846, and became minister of the Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church (1847-53). Thereafter he was appointed to the chair of ecclesiastical history and polity at Union Seminary, transferring in 1859 to the chair of systematic theology. In 1881 he took a prominent part in the formation of the Southern Presbyterian Church. From 1861 he served as a chaplain, then as chief of staff to Stonewall Jackson. In 1866 he returned to Union, remaining there until 1883 when for health reasons he moved to Austin where until 1884 he was professor of mental and moral philosophy at the recently established University of Texas, and played a prominent role in the founding of Austin Theological Seminary. In 1870 he published his Syllabus and Notes of the Course of Systematic and Polemic Theology Taught in the Union Seminary in Virginia which, revised and reissued in 1878, went through six editions until 1927.